Method and apparatus for controlling a multi-mode segmented display

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for controlling a segmented display on a processor read-out device. An addressable memory is provided for storing segments of information which may be displayed. The addresses of the segments presently being displayed are stored and these addresses are utilized to retrieve the information to be displayed in each of the segments. The segmented display may be presented in a plurality of different modes. A capability is provided for changing the mode being displayed at any given time and for altering the information which is displayed in each of the modes. When there is a change in the mode of display, various functions must be performed. Among these functions may be the positioning of an entry marker, the saving or clearing of a memory segment which may be used for different types of information in different modes, and the chaining together of related segments for the selected mode.

United States Patent Casey et a1.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING A MULTI-MODE SEGMENTED DISPLAY Inventors: Richard C. Casey, Darien; Robert J.

Duggan, Monroe; Stephen A. Grosky, Monroe; Dixon T. Jen, Monroe; John J. Serra, Monroe, all of Conn.

Bunker Ramo Corporation, Oak Brook, 111.

Filed: Sept. 8, 1971 Appl. No.: 178,728

Assignee:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,609,743 9/1971 Lasoff et al. 340/324 AD Primary ExaminerDavid L. Trafton Attorney, Agent, or Firm-F. M Arbuckle; R. J. Kransdorf [57] ABSTRACT A method and apparatus for controlling a segmented display on a processor read-out device. An addressable memory is provided for storing segments of information which may be displayed. The addresses of the segments presently being displayed are stored and these addresses are utilized to retrieve the information to be displayed in each of the segments.

The segmented display may be presented in a plurality of different modes. A capability is provided for changing the mode being displayed at any given time and for altering the information which is displayed in each of the modes. When there is a change in the mode of display, various functions must be performed. Among these functions may be the positioning of an entry marker, the saving or clearing of a memory segment which may be used for different types of information in different modes, and the chaining together of related segments for the selected mode.

53 Claims, 26 Drawing Figures PAIENIEn FEB 1 21914 sum 05oF 19 N k t 

1. A system for displaying, on a cyclically refreshed display device, a plurality of different information dis-play segments during each cycle, comprising: addressable memory means having a plurality of information storing memory segments, each of the memory segments being adapted to store all the information to be displayed in a display segment; means for storing the memory addresses of the memory segments containing information presently being displayed during each cycle; means for reading out the contents of a selected segment of said memory to refresh a segment of said display device; and means operative when refresh from a given memory segment is completed for utilizing the addresses stored in said memory address storing means to determine the address of the selected memory segment to be utilized to refresh the next segment of the display device.
 2. A system of the type described in claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of display devices; and wherein said memory addresses storing means includes means for storing memory addresses of the segments presently being displayed on each of said display devices.
 3. A system of the type described in claim 2 wherein said reading out means includes means for reading out the contents of a selected segment of the memory for each display device, said read-out occurring in a predetermined sequence; and multiplexing means for applying the information read-out from each selected segment to the corresponding display device.
 4. A system of the type described in claim 3 wherein the contents of said memory segments are information characters; and wherein said means for reading out the contents of selected segments in a predetermined sequence includes means for sequentially reading out the corresponding characters from said selected segments.
 5. A system of the type described in claim 2 wherein a given memory segment may be utilized to refresh the display on more than one of said display devices; said memory addresses storing means including means for storing the address of the given memory segment in the area of said storing means associated with each of the display devices.
 6. A system of the type described in claim 1 including means for entering new information into said system for display; wherein said display may include an indication of where said new information will be displayed; and including means for storing an indication of the display position at which said indication occurs; and means operative during the refresh of said display position for generating the display of said indication.
 7. A system of the type described in claim 6 wherein there are a plurality of said display devices; wherein the position at which said indication occurs may be different on each of said display devices; wherein said display position indication storing means includes means for storing a display position indication for each of said display devices; and wherein said display indication generating means is operative during the refresh of the indicated display position of each display device.
 8. A system of the type described in claim 1 wherein information may be displayed on said display device in a plurality of different modes, each of said modes presenting a different combination of said segments; and including means for storing the memory addresses of the segments to be displayed in each of said modes; means for selecting the mode to be displayed; and means responsive to the selection of a given mode for transferring the memory addresses for the segments for said given mode into said means for storing the memory addresses of the segments presently being displayed.
 9. A system of the type described in claim 8 including means for entering new information into said system for display; wherein said display may include an indication of where said new information will be displayed; and including means for storing an indication of the display position at which said indication occurs; and means operative when a new mode is selected for determining the display position at which said indication occurs for the new mode; and means for storing an indication of the determined display position in said display position indication storing means.
 10. A system of the type described in claim 9 wherein some of the segments of information which may be displayed in said system are common segments over which a system operator has no control; and wherein said means for determining the display position at which said indication occurs includes means for selecting as said display position the first display position of the first non-common display segment.
 11. A system of the type described in claim 8 wherein a segment of said memory means may be utilized to store the same information for use in different modes, may store different information in the different modes, or may not be used at all in certain modes; and including first means for determining if a memory segment utilized in said given mode to be utilized to store different information from that stored in the segment in the previous mode; and means operative when said modes are determined to be different for clearing said memory segment.
 12. A system of the type described in claim 11 wherein the contents of a given memory segment may be periodically updated; and including second means for determining if a memory segment utilized in said previous mode is periodically updated; means operative if said memory segment is determined by said first determining means to be storing different information for inhibiting the updating of said segment; and means operative if said segment is determined not to be storing different information for saving the address of said segment for continued updating.
 13. A system of the type described in claim 8 including means for indicating that a new combination of segments is desired for at least one of said modes; means responsive to said indicating means for displaying a mode set-up mask at said display device; means for entering new information in said mask; and means operative when the entering of new information in said mask has been completed for determining the memory addresses of segments to be displayed in any changed modes and for storing said addresses in said memory addresses storing means.
 14. A system of the type described in claim 13 including means for indicating that said mask is ready to be operated upon by said determining means; and means responsive to said indicating means for verifying that the new information entered into said mask is valid.
 15. A system of the type described in claim 13 including means for storing a mask indicating the information being displayed for said device in each of said modes; and wherein said displaying means includes means for retrieving said mask.
 16. A system of the type described in claim 15 wherein there are a plurality of said display devices; wherein said mask storing means stores a mask indicating the information being displayed for each device; and wherein said retrieving means is operative to retrieve the mask for a device on which a mode change is desired.
 17. A system of the type described in claim 1 wherein two or more of the segments being displayed may contain related information; and including means for indicating the segments containing related information.
 18. A system of the type described in claim 17 wherein said indicating means includes means for indicating the first and last segments of a chain of segments containing related information.
 19. A system of the type described in claim 17 wherein said indicating means includes means contained within each segment for indicating the relative position of a segment within a chain of segments containing related information.
 20. A system of the type described in claim 17 wherein information may be displayed on said display device in a plurality of different modes, each of said modes presenting a different combination of said segments; and including means for selecting the mode to be displayed; means responsive to the selection of a given mode for determin-ing the related segments in the mode which are chained together; and means, including in part said indicating means, anD responsive to said determining means, for storing in each related segment an indication of its relative position in a chain.
 21. A system of the type described in claim 1 including means for storing an indication of the type of information being displayed in each of the display segments.
 22. A system of the type described in claim 21 including means for indicating various functions to be performed on the information displayed in a given segment; and means responsive to said function indicating means and to the indication of the type of information being displayed from said storing means for determining if the indicated function is a valid function for the type of information displayed in the display segment.
 23. A system of the type described in claim 21 including means for entering new information into said system for display; wherein said display may include an indication of where said new information will be displayed; and including means for storing an indication of the display position at which said indication occurs; and means for indicating a type of information in which it is desired that said indication occurs; and means responsive to said type of information indicating means for utilizing the indication of type of information in said storing means to determine the display position in which said indication is to occur.
 24. A system of the type described in claim 13 wherein said display position determining means includes means for selecting as the determined display position the first display position of the first segment following the segment originally containing said indication which displays the indicated type of information.
 25. A system of the type described in claim 21 wherein there are a plurality of display devices; and wherein said type of information storing means includes means for storing an indication of the type of information being displayed in each display segment for each of the display devices.
 26. A system of the type described in claim 21 wherein information may be displayed on said display device in a plurality of different modes, each of said modes presenting a different combination of said segments; and including means for storing an indication of the type of information being displayed in each of the display segments of each of said modes; means for selecting the mode to be displayed; and means responsive to the selection of a given mode for transferring the information type indication for the given mode into said type of information indication storing means.
 27. A system of the type described in claim 26 including means for storing an indication of the types of information displayed in each display segment during the previous mode which was displayed; and means operative when a new mode is selected for transferring the contents of said type of information indication storing means to said previous mode type of information storing means.
 28. A system for controlling the display of different segments of information on a processor read-out device adapted to combine display segments in different ways so as to display information in a plurality of different modes, comprising: addressable memory means having information storing segments; means for indicating the addresses of the information storing segments containing information to be displayed in each of said modes, said means also indicating the order in which the information segments are to be combined for each of said modes; means for selecting the mode in which information is to be displayed; and means responsive to said mode selecting means for utilizing the segment addresses indicated by the indicating means for the selected mode for controlling the display of information on said device.
 29. A system of the type described in claim 28 wherein, for a given mode, two or more information storing segments containing related information may be chained together; and including means responsive tO said mode selecting means for determining related segments in the mode which are chained together; and means responsive to said determining means for storing in each related segment an indication of its relative position in a chain.
 30. A system of the type described in claim 28 including means for indicating the type of information stored in each of the display segments for each of said modes.
 31. A method for displaying a plurality of different segments of information during each cycle on a cyclically refreshed display device, an addressable means being provided having a plurality of information storing memory segments, each of the memory segments being adapted to store all the information to be displayed in a display segment, comprising the steps of: storing the addresses of the memory segments containing information presently being displayed during each cycle; reading out the contents of a selected segment of said memory to refresh a segment of said display device; and utilizing the addresses stored during said address storing step to determine the address of the selected memory segment to be utilized to refresh the next segment of the display device when refresh from a given memory segment is completed.
 32. A method of the type described in claim 31 wherein there are a plurality of said display devices; and wherein said reading out step includes the steps of reading out, in a predetermined sequence, the contents of a selected segment of memory for each display device, and applying the information read-out from each selected segment to the corresponding display device.
 33. A method of the type described in claim 32 including the steps of: storing the memory segment address presently being utilized to refresh each of said devices; testing when refresh from the addresses stored above is completed to determine if all segments of the display have been refreshed; repeating the above storing step with the next memory segment addresses from said memory addresses storing step if the refresh of all segments is not completed and with the first memory segment addresses from said memory addresses storing step if the refresh of all segments is completed.
 34. A method of the type described in claim 31 including the steps of; storing an indication of the display position at which new information entered into the system will appear; and generating a display of said indication.
 35. A method of the type described in claim 31 wherein the information may be displayed on said display device in a plurality of different modes, each of said modes presenting a different combination of said segments; wherein said storing step includes the step of storing the memory addresses of the segments to be displayed in each of said modes; and wherein said utilizing step includes the step of utilizing the addresses stored for a selected mode to determine the segment addresses to be utilized for display refresh.
 36. A method of the type described in claim 35 including the steps of; selecting a new mode for display; determining for the new mode the display position at which new information should be entered; and storing an indication of said determined position.
 37. A method of the type described in claim 35 including the step of; selecting a new mode for display; determining if a memory segment utilized to refresh the display for the new mode was utilized in the previously displayed mode; and clearing the memory segment if it was utilized in a previous mode.
 38. A method of the type described in claim 37 wherein the contents of a given memory segment may be periodically updated; and including the steps of; determining if a memory segment utilized in a previous mode is periodically updated; inhibiting the updating of said information if the memory segment is being utilized to display different information in the presently displayed mode; and continuing the update of the informatiOn in the segment if it is not being utilized to store different information in the presently displayed mode.
 39. A method of the type described in claim 35 including the steps of: indicating that a new combination of segments is desired for at least one of said modes; displaying a mode set-up mask at said display device; entering new information into said mask; transmitting said mask to a processing unit; generating the memory addresses of segments to be displayed in any changed modes; and storing the generated address.
 40. A method of the type described in claim 39 including the step of: verifying that the information transmitted to the processor is valid.
 41. A method of the type described in claim 40 including the step of: regenerating the mask displayed with error data blanked out in response to an error determination during said verify step.
 42. A method of the type described in claim 31 wherein two or more of the segments being displayed may contain related information; and including the step of: indicating the segments containing related information.
 43. A method of the type described in claim 42 wherein said indicating step includes the step of indicating the relative position of a segment within a chain of segments containing related information.
 44. A method of the type described in claim 42 wherein information ma be displayed on said display device in a plurality of different modes, each of said modes presenting a different combination of said segments; and including the steps of: selecting the mode to be displayed; determining the related segments in the selected mode which are chained together; and storing in each related segment an indication of its relative position in a chain.
 45. A method of the type described in claim 31 including the step of: storing an indication of the type of information being displayed in each of the display segments.
 46. A method of the type described in claim 45 including the steps of: indicating a function to be performed on the information displayed in a given segment; and utilizing said stored information type indication to determine if the indicated function is a valid function for the type of information displayed in the display segment.
 47. A method of the type described in claim 45 including the steps of: storing an indication of the display portion at which an indication of where new information is to appear is displayed; indicating a type of information in which it is desired that said indication occur; and utilizing the stored indication of information type of determine the display position in which said display position indication is to occur.
 48. In a system for displaying a plurality of different information segments during each display frame, which segments may be of at least two different types, a method for positioning an entry marker in a position of a segment of a given type comprising the steps of: indicating the type of information segment in which it is desired that the entry marker be position; storing an indication of the type of information displayed in each segment; comparing the indicated information type against the stored segment types in a predetermined sequence; and positioning the entry marker in a selected position of the segment corresponding to the first stored indication which matches the indicated information type.
 49. A method of the type described in claim 48 wherein the entry marker is to be positioned in the home position of the first display segment displaying the indicated type of information following the segment in which the entry marker is presently positioned; wherein said selected sequence is the first segment following the segment in which the entry is positioned followed by the next succeeding segment and so on, with the first segment being the segment succeeding the last segment; and wherein said selected position is the home posiTion of the segment.
 50. In a system for displaying different segments of information on a processor read-out device adapted to combine display segments in different ways so as to display information in a plurality of different modes, which system includes an addressable means having information storing segments, a means for indicating the addresses of segments containing information to be displayed in each of said modes, and a means for indicating the addresses of the segments containing information presently being displayed, a method for changing the mode of display comprising the steps of: indicating the new display mode; transferring the indication of information to be displayed in the selected mode to the means for storing an indication of infor-mation presently being displayed; determining if two or more segments contain related information; chaining together segments containing related information; determining a position for the new mode in which an entry marker is to be initially positioned; and positioning the entry marker in the determined position.
 51. A method of the type described in claim 50 including the steps of: storing an indication of the type of information in each display segment for each mode and an indication of the type of information for the mode currently being displayed; and transferring, when a new mode is selected, the indication of information type for the selected mode to the current mode position.
 52. In a system for controlling the display of different segments of information on a processor read-out device adapted to display information in a plurality of different modes, a method for setting up one or more display modes comprising the steps of: requesting a mode set-up mask; displaying said mode set-up mask; filling in said mode set-up mask with entries for the mode or modes to be set-up; transmitting the completed mask to a processing device; generating at the processing device screen format words and display words for the new mode or modes; and storing the generated words for the new modes.
 53. A method of the type described in claim 52 including the steps of: verifying the transmitted mask; and generating an error indicating display if the mask does not verify. 